Obama urges Americans to chip in for 'Yolanda' survivors

WASHINGTON -- US President Barack Obama on Wednesday encouraged Americans to donate money to support aid for survivors of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan), which ripped through the Philippines, destroying life, property and infrastructure.

Obama bemoaned the "awful destruction" of the typhoon, one of the most powerful on record, and directed Americans to the White House website where they could link up with aid organizations working to alleviate the suffering.

"Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the people of the Philippines as they mourn so many loved ones and neighbors lost in the awful destruction of Typhoon Haiyan," Obama said.

"The friendship between our two countries runs deep, and when our friends are in trouble, America helps," Obama said in a statement. "With so many families and communities in the Philippines in urgent need of food, water, shelter and medicine, even small contributions can make a big difference and help save lives."

US officials meanwhile voiced optimism that American assets, including cargo planes and versatile Osprey aircraft, would help bring help to victims still cut off by the storm.

The USS George Washington carrier and other Navy ships are steaming towards the ally and Washington has committed $20 million, roughly half for food and the rest to prevent diseases in the wake of the Typhoon.

"I would say we are cautiously optimistic that we are starting to turn a corner on some of the logistics challenges," a US official told reporters on a conference call.

The Philippines faced a daunting task after the typhoon struck last week, with supplies piling up at the small airport in the flattened city of Tacloban.

The official said relief workers were now able to get more aid out of the airport and that the opening of a land route has provided a significant boost by connecting to a port.

"We are cautiously optimistic that that will be a pretty significant game-changer," he said.

The initial effort was "a lot like trying to squeeze an orange through a straw. We are now getting more straws, if you will, and bigger straws," he said.

Another US official said "over 1,000" American troops could be on the ground by the end of the week, up from around 300.

The US Marines Corps said four MV-22 Ospreys have left the US Futenma base in Japan, expanding the number of Osprey aircraft involved in the emergency work to eight.

The Osprey can land and take off like a helicopter but fly at the speed of an airplane, covering four times the distance of a traditional chopper.

Eight MC-130 cargo aircraft, a variant of the Hercules plane, also were deployed to reinforce the relief operation for victims of Typhoon Haiyan, increasing the fleet of cargo planes to 12 to help with deliveries of food, water and other emergency items.

As of Tuesday, a team of US Marines already on the ground has delivered 129,000 pounds (nearly 60 metric tons) of relief supplies for the effort dubbed "Operation Damayan," or "Help in Time of Need."

The USS George Washington escorted by two cruisers and a destroyer comes with 11 helicopters as well as dozens of planes and the capacity to desalinate large volumes of water.

Another American destroyer and a supply ship were en route to the disaster zone and two amphibious ships, the USS Germantown and the USS Ashland, set off Tuesday from the port of Sasebo in southern Japan.

The Germantown and the Ashland are equipped with landing craft and amphibious vehicles, medical facilities and desalination systems.

Another amphibious ship, the USS Denver, remains on standby in Sasebo for deployment, a Navy official said.

According to UN estimates, 10,000 people may have died in the typhoon and nearly 10 million people -- or 10 percent of the Philippines' population -- have been affected.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama set to nominate Hagel as defense secretary

WASHINGTON DC - US President Barack Obama is poised to nominate Chuck Hagel as his new defense secretary on Monday, but Republicans are signaling a fierce confirmation fight even though he is one of their own.

Obama has decided he wants the 66-year-old former Republican senator to succeed Leon Panetta at the Pentagon and will make his announcement on Monday, an administration source told AFP, confirming US media reports.

Obama is also expected to announce who he has chosen to replace David Petraeus at the helm of the CIA, with acting director Michael Morell and counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan seen as the frontrunners, CNN said.

Despite the fact that Hagel is a fellow Republican, party heavyweights scenting blood in bitterly-divided Washington have accused him of hostility toward Israel and naivety on Iran, auguring a tough nomination process ahead.

The top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, praised Hagel when he left his Nebraska seat in 2009 for his "clear voice and stature on national security and foreign policy," but his tone was markedly different on Sunday.

"He ought to be given a fair hearing like any other nominee, and he will be," McConnell told ABC. "I'm going to wait and see how the hearings go and whether Chuck's views square with the job he would be nominated to do."

But over on CNN, leading Republican Senator Lindsey Graham did not shy away from a full-frontal attack, saying Hagel would be "the most antagonistic defense secretary towards the state of Israel in our nation's history.

"Not only has he said you should directly negotiate with Iran, sanctions won't work, that Israel must negotiate with Hamas, an organization, terrorist group, that lobs thousands of rockets into Israel.

"He also was one of 12 senators who refused to sign a letter to the European Union trying to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization," Graham said.

Hagel would be an "in-your-face" and "incredibly controversial choice" by Obama that would probably represent a "bridge too far" for him and a lot of other Republicans, he said, before adding that the hearings would provide the expected nominee with a chance to "set some of this straight."

Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran, is known for a fiercely independent streak and a tendency to speak bluntly. Some Republicans have never forgiven him for his outspoken criticism of ex-president George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war.

If confirmed by the Senate as Pentagon chief, Hagel will have to manage major cuts to military spending while wrapping up the US war effort in Afghanistan and preparing for worst-case scenarios in Iran or Syria.

Administration appointments are often tense affairs in the United States as the confirmation hearings provide senators with opportunities to turn away unwanted candidates or score cheap political points, or both.

Unyielding opposition from Graham and two other top Republicans, senators Kelly Ayotte and John McCain, last month derailed the ambition of US envoy to the United Nations Susan Rice to become the next secretary of state.

Rice, a longtime member of Obama's inner circle, had been a favorite to succeed Hillary Clinton as the nation's top diplomat.

But her role as administration defender over the attack that killed the US ambassador to Libya in Benghazi on September 11 drew her into a furious row with Republicans keen to dent Obama after his re-election victory.

Rice folded her bid on December 13 and asked Obama not to pick her. A week later the president nominated Senator John Kerry, who is expected to face little Republican resistance, not least because his Senate seat in Massachusetts will now be up for grabs.

Seen as having come off second-best against Obama in the New Year fight over the "fiscal cliff," after being forced to agree to tax hikes on the richest Americans, Republicans appear to be girding for another fight.

However, it is unusual for presidential nominees for cabinet posts to be voted down by the Senate, and Obama's Democrats currently hold the potentially decisive majority in the upper house.

Should Republicans choose to use an obstructive tactic known as the filibuster to prevent the matter from being brought to a vote, Obama would only need to woo a handful of their number to see his nominee confirmed.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama is - once again - TIME's 'Person of the Year'

NEW YORK - Time magazine on Wednesday named the recently re-elected US President Barack Obama as its person of the year for 2012 -- the second time it has accorded him this honor.

Obama now not only has a reelection as America's first black president and a Nobel peace prize under his belt, but he beat fancied runners-up, including brave Pakistani girls' rights activist Malala Yousafzai, to be enshrined again as Time's dominant personality of the year.

The venerable American news magazine put Obama on its cover, striking a thoughtful, statuesque pose, and said he deserved the accolade as "the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America."

The magazine lauded Obama's campaigning prowess, noting he was the first president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to win more than 50 percent of the vote in two straight elections and the first president since 1940 to be re-elected despite a jobless rate above 7.5 percent.

Obama beat Republican Mitt Romney soundly in November's election to win a second four-year term, despite presiding over a chronic economic slump.

"In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union," said Time, which had named Obama person of the year back in 2008 when he became America's first black president.

The others considered for the weekly magazine's traditional annual honor were Apple CEO Tim Cook, atomic scientist Fabiola Gianotti, and Egypt's post-revolutionary President Mohamed Morsi.

But Obama swept to the head of the pack because of what Time said was his ability to grasp the demographic and social changes shifting the United States.

"The truth is," Obama told Time, "that we have steadily become a more diverse and tolerant country that embraces people's differences and respects people who are not like us. That's a profoundly good thing. That's one of the strengths of America."

source: interaksyon.com

Obama tweets: 'Thank you. Four more years'

US President Barack Obama, who pioneered online electioneering, claimed victory in his re-election battle Tuesday with posts on his Twitter and Facebook pages.

"This happened because of you. Thank you. Four more years," he tweeted on his official account, signed with his initials "bo" to mark it as a personal message, in a response that was quickly "retweeted" 88,000 times.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama inches toward victory

WASHINGTON -- US President Barack Obama was inching towards victory on Tuesday as results poured in from the US presidential election, as Mitt Romney struggled to win vital swing states.

While the most important trio of battlegrounds -- Ohio, Florida and Virginia -- remained too close to call, Obama grabbed Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, dramatically shrinking the Republican's chances.

At 10:30 p.m. (0330 GMT), US news network voting projections had Obama leading Romney by 173 to 163 electoral college votes, and the Democratic incumbent appeared to have a far clearer route to victory ahead of him.

As expected, Obama polled strongly in New England and the industrial northeast, grabbing densely populated states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to news network projections.

His rival Romney did predictably well in the southern Bible Belt and western prairie states, winning the major prize of Texas and taking back Indiana, which Obama won in 2008, for the Republicans.

But Romney failed to win Michigan, his home state where his father served as governor, and the key battleground states of Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Ohio remained too close to call.

Obama also won New Hampshire, which had been considered a swing state, and Wisconsin, the home state of Romney's running mate Paul Ryan.

Polling was due to have ended in the east of the country, but there were long lines in many areas and officials kept polling centers open late, as the campaigns pleaded with their supporters to stay the course.

The final opinion polls published before voting began showed the two candidates in a dead heat nationwide, but gave Obama a slight advantage in the handful of swing states like Virginia and Ohio that will decide the race.

Each state has a quota of electoral college votes based on its population, and the eventual victor will be the candidate who secures the most.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama mourns Wisconsin shooting

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said he and First Lady Michele Obama had been "deeply saddened" to learn Sunday of a shooting that left at least seven people dead at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin.

"As we mourn this loss which took place at a house of worship, we are reminded how much our country has been enriched by Sikhs, who are a part of our broader American family," he said, in a White House statement.

Earlier, police in the Wisconsin town of Oak Creek outside Milwaukee, said a gunman had opened fire on worshippers at a suburban Sikh temple. A police officer shot the attacker, but not before another six people were dead.

"Michelle and I were deeply saddened to learn of the shooting that tragically took so many lives in Wisconsin," Obama said.

"At this difficult time, the people of Oak Creek must know that the American people have them in our thoughts and prayers, and our hearts go out to the families and friends of those who were killed and wounded.

"My administration will provide whatever support is necessary to the officials who are responding to this tragic shooting and moving forward with an investigation."

Sunday's mass shooting was the second to rock America in less than three weeks and will increase pressure on Obama and his opponent Mitt Romney to address the issue of gun control before November's presidential election.

Romney also issued a statement of condolence.

"Ann and I extend our thoughts and prayers to the victims of today's shooting in Wisconsin. This was a senseless act of violence and a tragedy that should never befall any house of worship," he said.

"Our hearts are with the victims, their families, and the entire Oak Creek Sikh community. We join Americans everywhere in mourning those who lost their lives and in prayer for healing in the difficult days ahead."

Last month, a gunman burst into a movie theater in Aurora, a suburb of Denver Colorado and fired into the audience, killing 12 people and wounding dozens more.

Chronology of deadliest US shootings

Listed here are some of the deadliest mass shootings in the United States over the past two decades:

-- Killeen, Texas, October 1991: A man shoots dead 22 people in a restaurant and then kills himself.

-- Littleton, Colorado, April 1999: Two teenage boys shoot and kill 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School before killing themselves.

-- Atlanta, Georgia, July 1999: A stock market trader goes on a day-long shooting rampage, killing 12 people, including his wife and two children, before taking his own life.

-- Red Lake, Minnesota, March 2005: A teenage boy kills two people at his grandfather's home on an Indian reservation and then goes to his local high school where he kills seven others before committing suicide.

-- Blacksburg, Virginia, April 2007: A student goes on a rampage at Virginia Tech, killing 32 people before committing suicide.

-- Omaha, Nebraska, December 2007: A 19-year-old man armed with an assault rifle shoots dead eight people in a shopping mall and then kills himself.

-- Covina, California, December 2008: A man dressed in a Santa Claus suit opens fire at a family party and then sets fire to the house. Nine people are killed. The gunman commits suicide.

-- Geneva County and Coffee County, Alabama, March 2009: In a shooting spree that tears through several towns, a 28-year-old unemployed man kills 10 people, including his mother and a toddler. He then kills himself.

-- North Carolina, March 2009: A heavily-armed gunman shoots dead eight people, many elderly and sick patients, in a North Carolina nursing home.

-- Binghamton, New York, April 2009. A gunman shoots dead 13 people at a civic center for immigrants.

-- Fort Hood, Texas, November 2009. US army psychologist Major Nidal Hasan opens fire at his military base, killing 13 people and wounding 42.

-- Manchester, Connecticut, August 2010: A man who complained of racism at the beer warehouse where he works goes to the facility and shoots dead eight people. He then kills himself.

-- Seal Beach, California, October 2011: A man angry over a child custody ruling opens fire at the hairdressing salon where his ex-wife works, killing her and seven other people.

-- Oikos, California, April 2012: A male nursing student methodically kills seven people at a Christian university.

-- Aurora, Colorado, Friday July 20: A man kills at least 12 people when he opens fire at a movie theater showing a late-night premiere of a 'Batman' film in a suburb of Denver.

-- Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Sunday August 5: A gunman opened fire at a Sikh temple in the US midwest, triggering a shootout which left him and at least six others dead. — Agence France Presse


source: gmanetwork.com